Thursday, 13 May 2010

FoTC

Here’s my experience of going to see the wonderful Flight of the Conchords in Manchester. I got into the city at about 3pm and met up with a friend I met through their forum (is it wrong that all the good people are from the interwebs =P) we decided to head down to venue as there was a pub next to it so we could sit and drink. We got there and the pub looked strange, small and closed, this meant we decided to sit on the grass outside instead. We got talking to a guy who had been there since 2pm, hoping to meet the guys and said he knew what car they’d be in. It turned out the pub wasn’t closed we were just being special and when their car turned up (the guy ran to the door as soon as he saw it) everyone in the pub ran over as well so what I thought would just be 5 of us turned into about 15. They were lovely and made sure everyone was seen to. I never know what to say so I just asked for a picture and said I was really looking forward to the show. They then headed in and we sat around again until the show started.

We got into the venue and I somehow managed to get row C centre seat so was beyond chuffed. They opened the doors at 6.30pm and the show didn’t start until 8pm and the guys weren’t on stage until 8.45pm, so a lot of sitting watching people/trying to work out if it was try that Cameron was our PM. Eugene Mirman (he’s in the show as their landlord) was the support act and I hadn’t seen his stuff before but thought he was brilliant. He did a lot of “I saw a stupid sign, I made some of my own” which were really funny but (not sure how to explain it) I prefer stupid long stories so they sort of dragged again. He showed this video of him reporting about the climate conference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWYGs4qQfK4

We then had to wait 25 minutes until the guys came on, so more sitting, watching, tweeting. Before the set they showed a clip from the New Zealand tourist office trying to get people to come to NZ. They came on playing Too Many Dicks wearing robot heads which flashed whilst pulling some crazy moves. The rest of the set went like this:

Too Many Dicks

Most Beautiful Girl

Hurt Feelings

Jenny

Ladies of the World

Freaky

Woo

Think about it

Korean song

I'm not crying

Albi

Foux da fa fa

Bowie

Demon Woman

Encore: Business Time

Bus Driver Song

Bret you got it going on (teaser - Bret said he gets embarrassed by it so Jemiane started to sing it

We're both in love with a sexy lady

Sugalumps

Looking at their other set lists, they really do shake them up, which is great and they also took requests before playing Albi.

Should also point out that they’re joined on stage with Nigel, who is the New Zealand Orchestra. There should be 3 members but 1 missed their flight and as there’s only 1 a month he won’t make it and the other one got here but forgot her Tuba.

Here are some highlights:

- Woo is a new song and bloody brilliant, Jemaine sings it but he kept forgetting the lyrics so he kept saying “oh... nothing” before trying to remember it. Nigel played the recorder and when he put it back he hit it against his cello which made Jemaine stop playing, turn to him and just stare.

- Korean Song - it started with Jemaine saying he was going to take a nap and that Bret should take control for a moment, so Bret decided to try out his new stuff which turned out to be the Korean song from Prime Minister episode. They said they hadn’t played it before and it was accompanied by a new video the guys filmed. I loved it, it always make me laugh in the episodes and I couldn’t stop laughing during it. Bret kept trying to get us to sing a long but it wasn’t quite working so they’re not sure how it went down. Really hope they carry on playing it.

- Hurt Feelings - Bret got a bit wrong and everyone started to laugh so they responded with “hey stop hurting my feelings by laughing, are you not getting the message of this song?”

- Think about it - before the song there were some brilliant bits discussing saving whales and how they should do it a long with impressions.

- I thought the crowd were really good, I read reports of the previous Manch show and it said there were a lot of hecklers. But there was only a few this evening. The first one was just after Jemaine said he was going for a nap and a woman in a very strong Mancunian accent shouted “I’ll join ya” which meant the guys couldn’t stop laughing and they then questioned her intentions did she mean that she thought it was boring show or that she found Jemaine attractive and wanted to lie next to him. She said the second which led a guy to shout (VERY loudly) “JEMAINE YOU SEXY BASTARD”. I’m pretty sure Jemaine blushed at this point and responded with “thank you for being clear with what you mean”. The third thing shouted got a Shut Up response, so there was no more afterwards.

- Between the songs, the guys told stories from being on tour, these included being stuck in a lift, getting muffins and a groupie with a fish, among others.

- Bret broke the news who our new PM was which led to a large amount of boos and several “You should do it” and Jemaine took up the offer and said Nigel should be treasurer and in the cabinet as he can hold things. I love that a lot of people found out who our PM was from the conchords, another great memory for the show.

- they get dressed into tight, sequin outfits for Demon Woman and they changed by ripping off their trousers (stripper style). After the song they went off for the encore. Bret and Nigel came back fully clothed but Jemaine came on trying to but his trousers back together and Bret saying he should just get some normal trousers. Jemaine has also out his t-shirt on wrong, he had missed one of the sleeves so his arm was through the neck opening and as it was a v-neck shirt it kept falling down during Bus Driver song until half of his chest was on show. Got to love guys who fail at dressing.

- During Sugalumps Bret jumped into the audience and found a guy with crutches and grabbed them and started singing “his crutch is on my crotch” and then he went over to a lady in a wheelchair and it looked like he was going to give her a lapdance but he changed his mind and decided to wheel her towards him.

Me and my friend weren’t sitting next to each other so we decided to meet outside the pub and even though we had met the guys already we ended up staying again (mainly because we were with others who hadn’t met them yet). Eugene came out and worked the crowd and took pictures with everyone, he was so naturally funny when responding to everyone I could have just listened to him all night.

Then the guys came out again, there were an awful lot of people there and I decided to hang at the back until it quietened down. The guys where in much better spirits after the show than before (always to be expected) and I liked meeting them when there was only a couple of people there but they gave better poses and were a lot more relaxed after the show, so I’m happy (and bloody greedy) I got to experience both times. I got Jemaine to sign my tea-towel and when I got to Bret he was signing a load of people’s tickets/albums with just Bret McKenzie but when I handed over the tea towel he said he really loved them and signed his name before pausing asking if it was for me (hell yeha it is) and then writing a little message.

The next day we walked around Manchester and I brought a Ukulele.

Sorry for the really long post but it was such an amazing night and I can’t wait for Monday and London. I’m tempted to take my Ukulele down but is 2 shows and 3 meetings a bit too greedy and stalkery?

And also sorry for the stupid change in font sizes, can't work out how to stop it and when I change the size the space between the lines are huge.